Welcome to this Country Bootcamp pre-lesson! Here we can make some essential gear decisions that will set us up perfectly to capture the Country guitar sound.

Simply put, the better you sound the easier the playing can be!

Clean Fender amps and a Fender Telecaster is always going to sound 'Country', as this is what was used on many original and older recordings we all still listen to today. No other guitar is more closely associated with the sound of country music and it's players than the Fender Telecaster.

Just like the Fender Telecaster, most country guitarists have favoured an all-tube Fender combo amps with classic spring reverb built in!

EFFECTS

There are three effects that can be used right away to get a versatile country sound — a compressor, some kind of overdrive and delay are all great pedals to get started with!

An amplifier that can go sparkly clean, like any Fender amp is the perfect platform to let the overdrive colour the sound; add some delay and you'll have a great lead tone!

The compressor pedal will also help with the clean tones sounding really big, especially if you're chickin' pickin' or finger picking as this brings all the guitars signal up to one level making all the notes heard no matter the way the string is played.